Australia Proflie: Part Two Economics

Find recent statistics on each of the following economic measures.

1.     GDP

1.521 trillion USD

2.     GDP per capita

67,035.57 USD

3.     Life expectancy

81.85 years

4.     Poverty rate

12.8 %

5.     Literacy rate

96 %

6.     Unemployment rate

6%

7.     Inflation

2.7%

Research and briefly report on the country’s resources.

1.     Natural Resources (climate, growing season, rainfall, agricultural land, major rivers and waterways, significant mineral deposits)

The climates in Australia include tropical, subtropical, equatorial, desert, grassland, and temperate. Winter crops are planted from April to June and harvested from September to January. Summer crops are planted from September to January and harvested from February to May. Cotton is planted from September to November and harvested from March until late May. 80% of the land in Australia has a rainfall less than 24 inches per year and 50% having even less than 12 inches. As a whole, Australia has an annual average rainfall of 16 inches. About 90% of Australian farmland is for grazing with many livestock as cattle and sheep. Their major crops include potatos and wheat. One of the world’s longest navigable rivers is Murry River in Australia. Other popular rivers include Macquarie River, Margaret River, Victoria River, Wollondilly River, amongst others. Australia is the world’s leading producer of rutile, zircon, bauxite and alumina, the second largest producer of gold, iron ore, lithium, manganese ore, lead and zinc, the third largest producer of ilmenite and uranium, and the fourth largest of silver, nickel and black coal.

2.     Labor (size of labor force, educational system)

The size of the labor force in Australia is 12,026,320 workers. The Australian education system consists of a primary, secondary, senior secondary, and a tertiary school. The primary is from Kindergarten to Year 6 or 7. Secondary runs from 7 to 10 or 8 to 10. Senior secondary school runs from years 11 to 12. A Bachelors can take 3 years (General) or 4 years (Professional) of tertiary school.

3.     Capital (industry and technology, infrastructure)

The primary industries of Australia are agriculture, animal and plant health, fishery, and forestry. The infrastructure construction from most to least is oil/gas/coal/other minerals, roads/highways/subdivisions, bridges/railways/harbors, and electricity generation/transmission/distribution.